Guzman Y Gomez – Newtown

“Where I come from, if you can’t lift half a cow then you’re considered a pussy,” says the huge muscular man covered in tattoos sitting opposite me.

The guy is a butcher from an outer suburb of Brisbane and the equally huge and tattooed man beside him sips his chilli margarita and nods in agreement.

“How much does half a cow weigh?” I ask.

The butcher thinks this over for a moment. “120kg or so.”

I’m in Newtown with a photographer friend of mine and we’ve stopped off in Guzman Y Gomez to fuel up on burritos to soak up the alcohol – which is where we bump into the Brisbane butcher, his friend and their black-clad and equally tattooed girlfriends, one of whom told me earlier that she’s planning on getting another tattoo in Sydney as a souvenir. I just hope it’s not of the Harbour Bridge or Opera House.

My friend and I have already finished our Coronas and burritos but the Brisbanites urge us to stick around with them for another round. Since they’re not talking about real estate and mortgages, which in Sydney makes for a refreshing change, we agree and buy some margaritas – and are pleasantly surprised.

Now, I realise reviewing a fast food Mexican joint is not in keeping with Bar Zine, which normally focuses on upmarket cocktail bars, but I’m making an exception for two reasons:

1) I’ve been addicted to their food for years as it’s the closest I’ve come to the great Mexican food I used to scoff in LA. Forget about those horrible faux tacos other places sell with minced meat and hard corn shells – here they grill strips of meat and serve them in soft corn tortillas (although lately I’ve switched my affection to the burritos).

2) My margarita is good. Really. Despite my love of Guzman Y Gomez’s food I was expecting a ghastly post mix drink that came from a machine but, even though it only cost $8, this tastes like the real deal (a good margarita needs to be made from fresh lime juice, qood quality tequila and either triple sec, Grand Marnier or Cointreau). Quite frankly, I’ve spent far more than this for far worse margaritas many, many times.

Aside from Coronas and traditional margaritas, Guzman also sells chilli margaritas which I don’t try, although the Brisbanites insist they’re good. And after all, who am I to argue with someone who can lift half a cow?

Guzman Y Gomez, 175 King Street, Newtown, although there are branches in Bondi Junction, Kings Cross, Australia Square and the MLC Centre. For more information see the Guzman Y Gomez website.

I’ve had a few people disagree with me about Guzman — one friend actually looked at me in disgust when I told him I liked the burritos and margaritas there (actually, two friends — but one is the GW, who always looks at me in disgust)

Thanks for the tip — I’ll add the new location to the review. Surely a place that sells cheap cocktails to stressed out CBD workers at lunchtime can’t be all bad (if they do sell margaritas in the MLC Centre franchise, that is).

On a completely different note, your name reminds me of a line the GW said to me just earlier today: Is that a gefilte fish in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

oh and one of my friends finishes her HSC on wednesday and were going out to celebrate but we’ve hit an obstacle seeing as its a wednesday night…
where would you recommend for 18 yr olds on a wednesday night???

Outside of the inner west, one place I used to go to a lot with your brother that always made us feel ancient because everyone was so young was The Brighton on Oxford Street — but he’d kill me if he knew I was recommending that dive bar to you. But it is close to Pocket Bar, which is good on a wed night (not too crowded and has a good vibe – http://barzine.com.au/pocket-bar-darlinghurst.html )

It’s also a good place to drink if you want to go somewhere like the Oxford Art Factory or Spectrum afterwards.

But I’m so ancient these days that it’s hard for me to channel the mind of an 18-year-old …

You did really well, the GW and I went to Madam Fling Flongs on my 18th and Loved it!!!
Kuletos is the place to be from ages…well lets say not 18 (they recently put a door man on because they got fined a fair amount for underagers there, poor guys!)and I had the most amazing strawberry something arother there a while ago
A fair few of my friends used to hang out at the brighton until the cops started cracking down…(can I say this over the internet???)
Pocket bar I have never heard of so Im off to read!
Thanks for the advice!